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How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

I have a long list, but re-wrapping heat trace around the hanging waterers is on the list, I have bales of shavings inside the barn so we shouldn't need to buy any more til spring. We do deep litter and they would be too bulky to get back to the barn easily in deep snow. This weekend I am doing the big coop cleanout with deep fresh shavings so it is all nice for the winter, and the nearly laying young uns can go in and hang with the big girls and Specky. The chanties are a bit small and timid yet to go in with them.

As I write this the installers are putting in our new windows, so we should be toasty and all the firewood is in the basement, though not all of it is stacked We haven't started the wood furnace yet, just running on oil as it is not cold enough yet. The house can get over 85*F if the wood is on and it is above freezing outside. I am most excited about the new patio door on the west side of the house in a dark NW room. We will put a deck out there in the spring, but for now, I will get to look out there at the blinding snow and be cosy. The door is R value 29!!!!

I have been drying herbs, making pizza sauce and the peppers and squash are picked and there is nothing left to harvest in the garden except beans hanging to dry. So the pantry is full.

Tidying up lawn furniture and tomato cages and the like will have to be done soon, I think if it snows it'll won't stay, yet. Getting the birdies in the barn with water that won't freeze is the highest priority.

So what is everyone else doing and how do you get organized? We have a to do list in word and use the strikeout to cross them off so we can see where we have been!! Makes us feel better.

2011-10-27 14:24:23

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

Cleaned up the perennial flower beds and watered one last time last weekend.Fired up the coal boiler and turned on the floor heating in the house, I love heated tile floors in the winter.Built a new pen in the winter coop for the d'uccles as well.We made a plastic pail with a lid into a nipple waterer for the chickens...I hope the new girls figure out how to drink from it soon!This weekend we need to go for a load of coal.I think I will be starting to move everyone into the winter coop this weekend as well. It is going to be a very snug fit for the winter.

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

My perennial flowers are on their own, especially now my youths have discovered the joys of mulch and all it's hidden treasures.

Cool you burn coal. There is something comforting about the smell of the smoke, my granny still burns coal in her fireplace to hear the boiler and radiators, it's a nice constant heat too. It'll nice to get all the fuel tucked inside eh?

We has our first frost overnight, very light except a couple of the pepper plants are looking a bit black and transparent! It seems we get snow before frost most years.

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

skeffling lavender farm wrote:

Cool you burn coal. There is something comforting about the smell of the smoke, my granny still burns coal in her fireplace to hear the boiler and radiators, it's a nice constant heat too. It'll nice to get all the fuel tucked inside eh?.

Actually I hate the smell of coal smoke but I love not having to cut wood for weeks on end or feed the furnace 2x a day. The furnace is a ways from the house, glycol filled lines carry the heat inside, so usually I don't smell anything. My DH just changed jobs where he is away 3 nights a week so I am really hoping the coal furnace is pretty self sufficient. We do have propane backup but when you need it the most at -40C that's when propane will gel in the tank!

-8C here this morning Claire. It seems Haloween is always about when it starts to really seem like winter is around the corner. Soon we'll be wishing for snow just to protect the plants and trees from the cold and to brighten things up as the days get down to only about 8 and then 7 hours of light...

We have had a beautiful fall though so I shouldn't complain! I just hope all those reports of a longer, colder winter than normal are wrong!!

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

Good thing the boiler is away from the house. You can't really get coal here, it's wood. I hope you won't be too lonely 3 nights a week. I am sure Wellington would come in and keep you company.

-8*C is properly crisp! We have water all around us, so we get a longer fall, then when it comes, does it ever because of all the water. Until the lake huron freezes (sometime in Feb), it generates snow automatically (lake effect) if the temp is under -5*C and the wind is blowing at all...squalls. They are awesome for not being able to see the edges of your property and cosy inside! I hate driving in them though, hopefully I can stay home more this winter.

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

I think my DH is a bit worried he will come home to chickens in the house Wellie remains a very nice boy who loves to cuddle but I was thinking d'uccles would be better house pets

And properly crisp it is indeed! Soon it will be light and I'll need to venture outside!

I'll bet you would get some nasty snow with the lakes right there. I'm not a big fan of winter driving. It's not so bad in the daylight but add the dark to it and it can be not so fun. Winter is best enjoyed looking out through the window of a warm house some days!!

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

Whatever you have heard about Canadians MD we are not as nice as everyone says...if I could "share" winter via the Internet and shorten it by a month or so I would most certainly do so. Six months is a very long time

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

Only at the freezing mark last night...sharing this winter weather thing is working very effectively

I tried to integrate my three youngest EOs (2 pullets and Adonis the roolet) into the laying flock yesterday. I have done them a disservice by hatching them late and then keeping them indoors so they don't really know how to be "real" chickens. So far my attempts are a dismal failure, they just hide! Adonis ran for me and hid on my lap not because he likes me but because I am less scary then the strange chickens. And because they are so "chicken" the other chickens will of course pick on them! I want to integrate while they can still go outside but this could be harder than I had hoped!

The next few weeks will be interesting as I move everyone into the winter coop and all my well laid plans go flop! Yep, it's going to be a long winter!!

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

Oh dear PG, that sounds stressful. I have to do that too, but for the most part all my young ones and a few EO and Chanty hens have been hanging a free ranging in the same area since early on, I wasn't sure how they do but were fine. In a confined space will be a different matter though. It's a gorgeous day here but chilly, I am going to go out and round up all the waterers for washing and adding heat trace. Guess I could pressure wash, technically, no snow yet!

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

I've used a battery heater (flat plastic pad) to sit under the chicken's waterer and it keeps the water defrosted all winter. Sometimes I've wrapped it around the waterer itself but it didn't work as well.Our new chicken coop is an industrial portable office 12 x 12, insulated and with 3 big windows to let in the warm sunshine. Great for winter, too hote for summer though.

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

Re: How is everyone getting their birds and farm ready for winter?

Today was Ivermectin and ILT vaccinate day, also trimmed beaks and everyone got a pedicure. DH and I are covered in shavings, scratches and..........poop Have been repairing any chicken wire with welded wire, cleaning pens and within the next few weeks put up plastic over the windows to keep everyone cozy